Race, Ethnic Minorities and the Culture of the Liberal Democrats

Race, Ethnic Minorities and the Culture of the Liberal Democrats Introduction In September 2016 I was invited by Baroness Brinton, as President of the Liberal Democrats, and on behalf of the Party Leader, Tim Farron MP, and the Federal Executive (now the Federal Board), to undertake an independent inquiry into process and culture within the Liberal Democrats, focusing specifically on race and ethnicity. I was not asked to address particular individual complaints or cases, nor the problems of race and ethnicity in the country as a whole, but as part of the party’s commitment to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society I was commissioned to focus on those barriers or issues faced by Black and Minority Ethnic (BaME)1 members and supporters and the Liberal Democrat Party itself. The Federal Executive provided the following questions to be addressed as part of the review process, but also made clear that I was free to explore other relevant questions. 1. Are there barriers to participation for BAME members? If so, what and where are they? 2. Do barriers differ in different parts of the party? 3. How effective are existing mechanisms/procedures in addressing the issue? 4. Does the Party do enough to engage with BAME voters and ensure accessibility for potential BAME members? 5. What further steps should, or could, be taken by the Party to address the issues identified in this review? I accepted the invitation and stood down as the Party’s Spokesman on Northern Ireland. While Party Headquarters undertook to provide responses to any questions I had, and to help with arranging contacts, meetings or information, it seemed to me best, within the limitations of a pro bono inquiry and my other commitments, to undertake meetings away from Party Headquarters and with as little direct involvement as possible by the party staff, in order to give a degree of independence to the work. However at the outset I want to express my sincere appreciation for the assistance given to me not only by party staff and members who responded very helpfully to my requests but especially to Mrs Kate Jegede, a volunteer researcher who became a party member during the process of working with me on the review, and provided me with considerable help as well as advice from her own experience. I was interested to undertake the task not only because I was already working on issues of First Nation people in various parts of the world and on problems between African-Americans and the police in Baltimore, but also because of my experience in Northern Ireland and the similarities, as well as the differences, between racism and sectarianism. This review can be seen as a follow-on from the 2013 Report by Helena Morrissey QC into party culture and processes following a series of specific allegations of sexual harassment. While these allegations 1 The terminologies of Black and Minority Ethnic, BaME and BAME are not very satisfactory but I have used them, partly because this was the terminology used in the mandate given to me, and partly because I have not come across anything that is much of an improvement. I hope that something better may emerge. 1 were taken up by the police as well as the party and did not lead to convictions, the Morrissey Report can be seen as part of a fairly successful long-term campaign to address some of the disadvantages and barriers to the progress of women in the party. However the Morrissey report recognized that it had not gone far enough in addressing complaints that institutional and systemic barriers were holding back black and minority ethnic (BaME) talent, so this new inquiry is looking specifically at race and ethnic minority disadvantage and what to do about it. Is there a problem? The obvious starting point is to ask whether or not there is a problem. The Liberal Democrats as a party believe firmly that they stand for equality before the law and fair treatment for all members of society. The preamble to the Party Constitution says “……we reject all prejudice and discrimination based upon race, colour, religion, age, disability, sex or sexual orientation and oppose all forms of entrenched privilege and inequality” With such a commitment, surely there could not be a problem? From the start almost everyone I listened to and spoke to, from the most senior leadership of the party and throughout the organization and membership, whatever their background, agreed that there is a serious problem. They did not all agree on the causes of the problem, but it was clear to everyone who looked at the racial and ethnic background of elected representatives, spokespersons, activists and members attending meetings and conferences, that the party is not representative of the racial and ethnic diversity of the country as a whole. Even in those parts of the country where a substantial proportion of the population is from racial and ethnic minorities, the membership and representation of the Liberal Democrats does not properly reflect that diversity. This is a substantial problem for a party which has committed itself to equality and diversity and the under-representation is so stark that it does not require a statistical study to demonstrate it. Does the party recognize that there is a problem? For nearly two decades the party has been conducting reviews on race equality and other aspects of diversity within the party and there have been changes in procedure to address the issues raised. In 2001 Lord Dholakia set up the Racial Equality Advisory Group which produced the report entitled “Diversity, Racial Equality and the Party” published in 2004. This report was launched and accepted by the Federal Executive and led to the establishment of the Ethnic Minority Election Task Force (EMETF). In March 2006 at the Harrogate Spring Conference the Party approved a further motion from Lord Dholakia on the issue and Party President Simon Hughes MP launched the Party’s ‘Equality and Diversity Review’. At the Autumn Federal Conference that year Sir Menzies Campbell MP announced the launch of the ‘Diversity Fund’ with £200,000 to fight target seats where women and ethnic minority candidates were chosen. 2 In October 2007 Issan Ghazni was appointed the National Diversity Adviser to promote equal opportunities and diversity by providing advice, support and leadership throughout the Party at all levels. He undertook a very substantial piece of work, consulting, drawing on best practice and legislation, taking advice from members and building on the earlier Dholakia report. The result was an even more comprehensive document – “From Barriers to Benefits” which was taken to the Autumn Conference and approved in 2008. This report reflected good practice models from the public, voluntary and community sectors and was aligned to the current UK and European equalities legislation. It addressed – • Leadership and accountability with the setting up of the ‘Diversity Engagement Group’ (DEG) and Diversity Champions, and proposed the merging of Ethnic Minorities Election Task Force (EMETF) and Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) • Target setting, monitoring, reporting and reviewing • Increased funding • Information gathering and equality monitoring • Marketing and communication • Reaching out to Black and Minority Ethnic communities • Training, development, capacity building and action learning in the party and the creation of a ‘Diversity Network’ to contribute to raising the awareness of members and to help change the culture of the organisation. There was a very detailed set of recommendations and a priorities plan for the period 2008 – 2010. It was an exhaustive piece of analysis and a practical, managerially informed route to the resolution of the problem, indeed it would be difficult to see how one could produce a more detailed and substantive report based on the received wisdom of how to address race and ethnic minority issues. There have been other initiatives and enquiries into specific problems; the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) and other internal party groups such as the Chinese Liberal Democrats have been active; and every Party Leader before and since has made strong statements of support for commitments inside and outside the party on these issues. So if the party knows there is a problem and has already tried unsuccessfully to resolve it, what could I do that has any hope of making a difference? I would not be able to produce a report that was any better, more detailed or informed than Issan Ghazni’s 2008 document and I could immediately appreciate the sense of frustration amongst party members, especially, but not exclusively those from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, that the issue had been raised so many times before and there had been enquiries and reviews, some of them very exhaustive, but things were no better. Indeed arguably they were worse, because during Charles Kennedy’s leadership and stance over the Iraq War there had been a considerable influx of new members from BaME communities, especially from Muslim communities, but many had subsequently drifted away, and this despite the fact that the party had been in government and so in a position to make changes. It seemed to me entirely reasonable there should be considerable scepticism that my intervention would make any positive difference at all. I regard it a tribute to the courtesy and commitment of many BaME and other party members that 3 despite this, they were prepared to meet and give me the benefit of their experiences as well as their thoughts about the reasons for the problem in the party and what needed to be done about it. As I listened to their accounts and asked questions about barriers to progress within the party for BaME members, and the complexities of the situation emerged, I began to focus increasingly on trying to find a different approach to what could be done in practice to change the situation.

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